Field Commander and Covert Ops
by Teobi
Summary: Response to a prompt from Bow Echo. Scayo drabbles (Scrabbles?), 100 words each, an exercise in writing. Based on TAG. Scott/Kayo.
1. What now?

She's beauty, she's grace. She'll punch you in the face.

She's Kayo.

We've known each other for years. Kyrano and Dad were tight. Tanusha challenged us boys with her hands on her hips, eyes glinting. She didn't need to prove herself to us, but it was necessary for her own self confidence. Gordon always found her hilarious- they're as good as twins. She's our sister, the eye of the storm.

But one day I got sucked into the vortex. I noticed her- not as a child, but as a woman.

What now?


	2. Puppy love

One time Virgil and I found a sick puppy in the road. I thought it was wrong to prolong its suffering, but Kayo tended to it like a child. Looking back, maybe it gave her something we couldn't. Boys don't cuddle much, unless it's over sporting triumphs.

Anyway the dog survived and went to live with a neighbour. Kayo was happy with that- her job was done. We were a family with many commitments, and in my view, animals took second place to humans.

But damn, if I didn't miss that dog when it was gone.


	3. awake

Sometimes she stays awake all night. I hear her padding to the fridge, back and forth to the bathroom. She kickboxes with MAX in the gym at 3am because of a burning need to be alert at all times. It's admirable, but unnecessary. Still, you try telling her that. Kayo is a law unto herself; she follows anticipated orders from Dad in those pre-dawn hours, and those are the times when I admit to myself that she's _more_ than my equal.

There's a splash. She's in the pool, and the day has yet to begin.


	4. Everything nice

Dad loved Tanusha from day one, was so proud of her grit and determination. She grew up with five boys; whether she overcompensated for that I don't know. She played harder, fought harder, almost always got the last word. She laughed harder, but that was rare.

Tanusha was a serious child and she's grown into a serious woman. There's a core of anger in her that even I'm afraid of.

She's the daughter Dad always wanted- 'sugar and spice and everything nice'.

Little did he know she had bigger cojones than any of his boys!


	5. Teasing

"Langstrom Fischler is a jerk. Nothing he makes ever works."

"Francois Lamiere is a fink. He smells of cheese and his show stinks."

Such poetry. Gordon and Kayo are bored. This is what I put up with.

"Ned and Gladys are both crazy. Ned works hard but Gladys is lazy."

Oh great. Now Alan's joined them. I can predict the course of this game in three...

Two...

One.

"Scott and Kayo in a tree, kay eye ess ess eye en gee."

An indignant shout and a girlish scream, and they flash past me on the way to the pool.


	6. Talk to the hand

"So, Kayo. How's Alan's training progressing?"

I always know what's coming. Other lead-in topics include: How's Shadow performing? How'd that rescue with Gordon go?

Finally, casually: Don't you think you were a bit reckless today?

Not always during mission debriefing, either. While I'm chilling with a book, or counting laps in the pool. His voice wavers in and out. I'm not going to stop swimming just to hear his latest rant about _certain_ people not following orders.

You're a moaning old minnie, Scott Tracy. Be thankful that I like you!


	7. Trust

Thunderbird Shadow is my baby. She flies like an albatross, sleek and sure. She's so responsive, as though she's controlled by my thoughts. She came to me right when I needed her. She makes me feel alive.

Scott certainly knew what he was doing when he and Brains came up with the idea for my 'bird. Shadow is the second greatest gift I've ever received.

And the first?

His trust.

He could've stopped me flying Shadow when he found out who I was. But he didn't.

 _Scott trusts me._

I won't let him down.


	8. Animal

You know what's so scary about her?

When she operates a 'bird, she _becomes_ the 'bird. More than Virgil does, more than I do, even more than the Terrible Two. She's fluid, a shapeshifter. I look in her eyes and sometimes there's a stranger there, an otherworldy being.

Her frightening traits are also, dare I say it, her most attractive and beguiling traits. In the sky she's a pterosaur, in the water a mako shark. On land she's Bagheera, the gentle panther- and just as wise and knowing.

What spell has she cast on me?


	9. Force of Nature

The most beautiful temple in the world will crumble without solid foundations. Elaborate sand sculptures are destroyed by the flowing tides. Mankind builds, nature reclaims, puts us back in our place. Chaos is the default setting. Yet still, we strive.

International Rescue is the most resilient organisation on the planet. Because we work with the elements, we understand and acknowledge nature. Scott is Fire. Virgil is Earth. Gordon is Water. Alan is Air. And John is the hub of the wheel.

And me? I like to think I'm pure elemental. Fire, Earth, Air, Water, all are fuel to me.


	10. suited and booted

When I first saw him in the uniform, my eyes nearly popped out of my head. Brains was still tweaking the specs; with each fitting his suit got a little tighter.

No room to breathe, he complained.

I don't see the problem, I thought.

He's tall and broad shouldered anyway, but the uniform just accentuates that.

Aesthetics are important.

The silver sash adds authority. The thigh strap? Functional, I dare say.

The fingerless gloves. nice touch. No pun intended. Or maybe.

Let's put it this way.

Scott Tracy is a fine figure of a man.

And how!


	11. Loss

Eventually we will lose someone we love. No matter how strong and vital we think we are, that loss will hit us hard. There's no preparing for it, no turning a blind eye. Sooner or later, it will happen. We lost Mom, and then we lost Dad. Kayo lost her parents too.

Even with all that we do, we cannot save everyone. We can't heal the terminally ill or catch every falling star. But it doesn't stop us trying.

If you have lost someone you love, reach out. We will be there for you, no matter what.


	12. Black sheep

Alan's still a kid who sleeps on the floor. Gordon is one hundred times tougher than he looks. John can cut you with one raised eyebrow. Virgil is one hundred times softer than he looks. Scott is full of tightly coiled energy and Dad jokes.

Brains is a lovable genius. Grandma Tracy a velvet hand in an iron glove. If it weren't for MAX's culinary skills, we'd all starve.

Have I left anyone out?

Only the black sheep, the one with secrets. There's always one in every family so it might as well be me.


	13. Eyes

A flicker of a glance in my direction and my heart stops. Is he mulling over something I did wrong? Did I fail because the Hood escaped? Is he wondering whether he could have done the job better?

No pair of eyes blinds me like those blue orbs. Electric butterflies awaken in the pit of my stomach. He lets slip the dogs of war between mind and body and I retreat to my room, overcome with nerves.

I want so much to please him, to make him proud of me.

I've never felt this way before.

I'm scared.


	14. time

How fast time flies. One day you're a snub nosed kid, next day a full grown adult. Somewhere in between, you missed that crucial moment. The growth spurt.

I'm eager to see the man that Alan becomes. It wouldn't be a surprise if he grew taller than me and broader than Virgil. He, Gordon and Kayo were always the babies of the family, the Terrible Trio, always getting into trouble. But time has separated them. Now Gordon gravitates to Virgil, Alan gravitates to me, and I gravitate to Kayo.

I doubt she needs it.

But I do.


	15. power

I wouldn't call him powerful, per se. Thunderbird One is powerful, yes. The decisions made in a split second, yes. But the man himself? No.

Perhaps my judgment is softened by the time he sat through the night with me and a sick puppy. Or the times he laughed when we were scolded for being naughty. He's a curious mix of bravery and trepidation, and sometimes he leaps before he looks. Virgil has to rein him in sometimes.

But he's growing into his role. Power is at his fingertips, and he's learning to use it wisely.


	16. Poolside

Normally he runs. Today he's swimming. He attacks the water from one end of the pool to the other. He's not fluid or graceful like Gordon and he generates too much wake. Midway he dives, gliding along the bottom before emerging to take great lungfuls of air.

I bring a towel and two glasses of iced tea. He can't see my eyes behind my mirrored shades. That's intentional.

"Having fun?" I ask.

"Sure. Wanna join me?" Droplets spray from his lips.

Well. It would be rude to turn down an invitation like that. Wouldn't it?


	17. Birthday

She hates surprises, so we surprised her. Happy Birthday! Her face was priceless.

John gave her a polished quartz crystal from a comet's core. Virgil carved her a phoenix from sandstone a million years old. Gordon gave her a piece of sustainable coral in its own biosphere. Alan gave her a vial of volcanic dust from Io. And I gave her something much more humble, but just as precious.

My lucky pebble from Kansas. Born from the earth, blessed by the sky, that pebble has been with me everywhere.

It's time to share that luck with someone special.


End file.
